Emotional February - RV Life and Selling Everything We Own

Living in an RV full time, traveling the country, sounds like fun, doesn’t it?

Everyone encourages you, they say, “Do it, you will enjoy it.”  

The YouTube videos make it sound glamorous and exciting. You see photos on Facebook and Instagram and think, “I so want to be there.”

So why not sell off everything we own and do just that.

Leave behind family and friends, travel the country, downsize to very little, create new memories, write a new chapter in our life, enjoy the adventure.

But, what they don’t tell you in the videos, on Facebook or Instagram is about the emotional side of doing just that.

We made the decision to do this right around Christmas, and January and February has been an emotional roller coast ride, chunks of it downhill. The issue – we took on too much, too fast, too soon – quitting jobs, preparing to sell everything, finding the right Airstream, learning how to RV, finding places for us to stay in the Airstream, it was an endless list of things to do. I was completely overwhelmed, anxiety took over, fear replaced excitement, and worry took a strong hold.

Emotionally, I thought I was ready to let go. After all, it’s just stuff. A lot of stuff. Forty-five years of marriage stuff. How do we get rid of all that stuff? I had to step back and remove myself from the equation. I asked someone I knew, who specializes in moving/estate sales, if she had time to take us on, she agreed and a big weight was lifted off my shoulder. We still had the task of sorting through our stuff and deciding on what to take, having a small space kind of helped with that decision, the questions were, “will it fit somewhere? And do we really need it?” Occasionally though I would pick up something and think, “Ah, I have to keep this, someone gave it to me,” or there were special memories attached to it but then I would have to remind myself I can’t take everything. So, we boiled our forty-five years of marriage and photos down to a few small boxes and sent them home with our oldest son and daughter-in-law. Strange to think that forty-five years can fit in a few small boxes.

It was also hard to not go down the remember-when-rabbit-hole. Reminiscing about this or that kept sucking us in, especially, when we  found letters we wrote to each other when Tony was in the Air Force, or school year books, photos of our children, so many photos, so many memories. It was joyful, sad, entertaining, and time consuming.

Add to this mix all the things you need to learn about RVing, like towing and backing up.Then there are the things we take for granted in our homes, like water, sewer, and lights. Suddenly you have to learn more about them and about conservation. Not to mention living in a small space with your spouse.

Communication in the relationship takes on a new meaning, especially as newbies. “No, I said driver side.” LOL  Hand signals need to be agreed upon. Working together as a team is critical. For us, after years of being self-employed and working together, it has been somewhat of a natural transition, not to say that it wasn’t hard sometimes or frustrating, but easier than it could be for some couples.

As things started to come together, elation, excitement, the idea of adventures overruled the past, bringing us back into the present and providing us with a future to look forward to. The memories are still there even long after the ‘stuff’ is gone. The friends, the family, are still there and with today’s technologies, it allows us even more ways to connect.

Betty Jo has become home now. We’ve lived in her for almost a month. Bits and pieces of us are scattered throughout her 27’, reminding of us a time before and the time to come.

The emotional roller coast is cresting the hill, as we approach the top we can finally throw up our hands and scream with joy as we soar to the next bend in the track.

It can be scary and thrilling at the same time, but living in an RV full time, traveling the country, does sound like fun. Let the adventure begin.